AN: Just so you know, Haru means Spring and Natsu means summer :3 Cheers to Lovissa for inspiring the last segment!
Update: Thanks Mie for pointing out those spag errors! I've fixed them :3
Spring and New Beginnings
The birds sang as they flew overhead the two people in love. It was a beautiful, sunny Thursday without a cloud in the sky. Nestled in their special, partially hidden spot at the park, the happy couple was oblivious to the world around them.
Garry leaned back against the tree trunk, content to watch his wife reading and using his lap as a pillow. Her garnet eyes flitted across the pages and she would occasionally hum in thought, circling the names she especially liked in pencil and dog-eared the pages.
Brushing his hand across her silky brown hair, he twirled a single lock around one of his fingers. She ignored him and read on. Ib never ceased to amaze the man after all these years, from the brightness of her bigger smiles to the way the hue of her eyes would subtly change with her emotions, despite her ever present calm expression.
When Garry and the little girl escaped from the other side, he would never imagine that he would meet that same, not-so-little girl in his bookshop five years later.
He would never have imagined that five years later he would be asked out by that same thoughtful and incredibly reserved young lady. She stomped right up to him, slammed a hand on the desk between them and with a calm but completely red face, murmured, "Go out with me."
The perplexed bookshop owner glanced between the flustered young lady and the older customer who was casually flirting with him earlier. He swallowed hard. "But we always have Thursday lunch together?"
"That's not—um, I meant..." She averted her eyes and mumbled, "Be my boyfriend."
It was his turn to blush and splutter as he tried to juggle both Ib and the earlier customer who was enjoying the free entertainment with an amused yet slightly disappointed look on his handsome face.
It always astounded him, how many facets of Ib he would be privileged to see. Even if she was incredibly reserved and shy and every other variation of the description, she could be as blunt and direct as a bullet straight to the heart too (his, specifically). It was even more evident when she wanted or needed something urgently.
He often wondered where exactly their relationship would progress to. It was a pleasant but not entirely unexpected surprise that within the next five years, they promised their lives to each other and were already starting a family. It was like a fairy tale ending. He still couldn't believe his luck waking up some mornings to the sunlight filtering through the shutters and a lovely Ib in his arms.
After everything that had happened, Garry discovered so much joy in the mundane. He didn't have to check over his shoulder while shaving every morning and there was something comforting in the ticking of the many, many clocks around their house. He reveled in the sunshine, lay in the green grass and breathed in every gentle gust of the summer breeze.
Although it would still be many months before they could welcome the new life into the household, Garry was more than ready to face fatherhood. When he was younger, he was tired on how society operated and craved anything and everything unique and avant-garde. Fifteen years later, the man was completely in love with his every day, completely normal routine.
He laughed aloud, his younger rebellious self from before the gallery would be flummoxed and speechless.
"What's so funny, Garry?"
He looked down at Ib, who had finally looked up from her book. He shook his head and brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, only for the wind to muss it up again. She giggled at his gesture and he frowned as he picked up another leaf from the top of her head, tucking the shawl around her shoulders a little tighter.
"Garbear, I'm fine."
"You should still take care of yourself. Are you getting dizzy again? Maybe we shouldn't have come out here." Ib hid another volley of giggles behind her hand and swatted his hovering ones away with the other.
"I'm pregnant, not incapacitated." Patting her still flat abdomen, Ib sighed rather happily at being coddled. "Stop being such a worrywart, Garry."
The laugh that threatened to break out was just barely contained and Garry couldn't help but melt at how expressive Ib had become recently. It only took a decade and motherhood to break her out of her former impenetrable shell.
"I'm not the one trying to pick a name for our baby during her first trimester. Have you found any favourites yet?"
Ib hummed again and grabbed her discarded book, flipping back a few pages until she reached the H section. "I was thinking of Haru, if it was a boy, since the due date is somewhere in late March or early April. He'll be here just in time for the cherry blossoms to bloom."
"Spring, it's very fitting."
"He'll be our new fresh start, our new beginning." Garry stroked her cheek and Ib nuzzled her face closer to his hand.
"Say, Ib… if we have another boy in the future, then shall we call him Natsu?" She instantly jerked back and shot him a sharp look. He mischievously grinned back.
"And if we had four boys altogether?"
"Hohoho then—"
"Garry, you nerd. Those boys would kill us."
He leaned down to brush his nose against hers, making her face as adorably red as her eyes. "Then at least we had fun in this life."
She growled in response. He loved pushing her buttons these days, there was so much more to explore.
"I'm joking, dearest. And if it's a girl?"
She calmed down and tapped a finger on her chin, contemplative. "Camellia or Tsubaki, Daisy or Hana, I just couldn't decide between them at all."
"Shall we throw Rose in there too? Since we can't seem to part with them at all at this point?" They both turned to the large rose bushes in the park and grimaced. Garry stroked her hair again and leaned back. "Relax, we have plenty of time to choose, and try to escape the whole flower theme you have there."
"Flowers?" Ib bashfully turned away. "It never occurred to me."
He laughed at her again.
"Actually, I was thinking of another name, but I'm not sure if you would like it."
He turned to her as she did the same and bopped her nose gently with his finger. "I could patiently listen, at the very least."
"Then…" she sat up, leaned in close and whispered the name next to his ear. When Ib pulled back, Garry's face was drawn. She sighed and pulled back, scooting away to stretch out her legs. "I knew you wouldn't approve."
"Ib." He clasped her hand tightly, refusing to let anymore distance get between them. "It's been years, Ib. What exactly are you trying to achieve?"
She looked at him sadly. "Garry, don't you know the old saying? 'Those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.'"
"And what exactly would we repeat? We're happy now, we've moved on—"
"Have we really?"
Garry paused. He knew she still had the occasional nightmare, he had to wake her up and hold her when she did. They both never looked at roses the same way, or plushie dolls or even the model mannequins at the clothing stores. Ib would have a pensive look when they had ice cream together, play at the beach or watch as the snow falls in the winter.
"We didn't do anything wrong, she was—"
"Lonely."
"Loneliness doesn't justify cruelty, Ib."
"You said you would patiently listen!"
"And I did. I think I like Tsubaki, it would match with Haru and your mother's name meaning—"
"Don't try to change the subject, Garry."
"We didn't do anything wrong," he firmly stated. "It was in self-defense and we didn't have a choice at the time. A mentally unstable painting child wanted to kill us in her rage, Ib. She was running at us with a knife. We… we didn't…"
He knew his points were valid, but so were hers. Mary was just desperate to escape after being trapped for such a long time and the belongings they found after their fight was heartbreaking. Dolls, books and Mary's diary especially pointed to how child-like and almost human she was despite her cunning and ruthless intelligence.
He wasn't sure what to think anymore. Garry knew Ib had it harder after spending more time with her. For years, he had simply chosen to forget while Ib never forgot for a second.
Garry sighed and chose to surrender first, offering her the metaphorical olive branch. He hated fighting with her, as rare as those arguments were. "I'm sorry."
She shook her head. "I'm sorry too. She's been on my mind a lot lately."
He slipped his hand into hers and interlocked their fingers again. "I guess I just didn't have the courage to confront these feelings after all these years."
She gave his hand a squeeze. He leaned forward to kiss her cheek.
"You've always been the braver of the two of us, Ib." Garry snuggled up behind her to her a giant bear hug and she practically melted into him. "Love you."
"Love you too. It's just… sometimes I wonder if I deserve this happiness."
He nuzzled the back of her head and then lay his head in the crook between her neck and shoulder. "Of course you do, Ib. That's the trauma and guilt speaking. You were too young to go through such things. The details are a little hazy for me after fifteen years, all I remember was being scared of losing you. The… the lighter…"
A tense silence stretched out between them. Her voice was quiet when she finally replied. "You're not the one who lit up the frame, Garry."
"It's still my lighter." He held her closer still, just on the verge of just crushing her. "Although I'm not sure how our possible future daughter would feel about being being named after a painting."
"Perhaps flattered? There's bound to be a number of 'Mona's and 'Lisa's and 'Mona Lisa's inspired by the famous lady herself." Ib reasoned, finally sounding a bit more light-hearted.
"…She'll be named after an unpublished painting that came to life and attacked her parents when they were younger."
"Ah, well… hm. Maybe she doesn't need to know that? Mary was still my friend."
"You're too kind, Ib."
They sat back and enjoyed the summer breeze. A hint of a chill indicated that Autumn was coming soon. Ib turned to look at Garry, opening her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Garry raised a brow and blinked at her hesitation.
"What is it?"
"Ah, well…" she suddenly blushed and Garry could feel himself mirroring her. "It's a bit uncommon, but what do you think of Amaryllis?"
He whistled low. "Fancy."
She gave a shy grin. "Too fancy?"
He laughed and finally let go, pouring himself more orange juice. "Nah, it suits the family tradition of exceptionally unique and fancy girl names."
"Garry!"
"Iris, Ib, Amaryllis… no, no, see? It fits right in!"
"Stop teasing."
He suddenly swooped in a gave her a small peck on the lips. She blushed cutely.
"Relax, there's plenty of time. Some people say that when you hold the baby in your arms, you'll know just the perfect name of them." She nodded and he gave a sigh of relief, patting himself on the back for diffusing the situation. "It's no use regretting the past, Ib. We have to learn from it like you said and we'll do that together, okay?"
She nodded and leaned on him again, enjoying the sounds of nature and the time they have left with each other before they had to return to the rest of society. It was still going to be a sensitive topic and there were still going to be endless reminders, but at least they could still find comfort in each other and hopefully, their new beginning in a few month's time.
X
"How about putting Mary as a middle name?"
"…Ib."
"Yes?"
"Rosemary."
"…"
"…"
"I don't know whether to strangle you or kiss you."
"…"
"…"
"Kiss, please."
"…"
"…"
"I want to cry."
"Wait, what? Ib, stop! I was just joking, please don't cry! Ib!"
AN: Has anyone here read the manga Rave Master? :^) Huehuehue :^) I love Fairy Tail and couldn't resist referencing that either lol. Hiro Mashima is amaaaaaaaazing *heart*
I really hope this wasn't too OOC? Pregnant Ib and sappy husband Garry (he's already started on the Dad jokes, Lord have mercy on Ib and her babies). I have mixed feelings about the "Let's name our child Mary!" trope I saw a lot back in the day, so I somehow wanted to address it. But I haven't read Ib fanfics in a while so I'm not entirely up to date with the new trends and tropes (Wow I sound like a fandom Grandma lol~ although technically I am).
Please tell me what you think in a review! *wink wonk* Take care xo
P.S. If you spot a lot of spelling/grammar mistakes, the computer I currently use doesn't have spellcheck in its Word Processor. I tried to fix it, didn't work lol. So pls help me out if you see anything, I can only read over a fic so many times before I get sick of it :P